Category: Viewpoint & Opinion

My apologies for excess updates on my last post about our trip to Quartzite, and having to leave it until today unfinished. It appears there was a problem with the WiFi Feed where we are staying in Yuma and problems with word press. It appears that the problem has resolved itself.

After being Scammed by a Online Scammer I’ve come up with most of the warning signs, in the hope it will keep someone else from being Scammed or Defrauded. I know better and have been buying things online for over 20 years, and still got scammed because I did not follow my own policy in regards buying online..

Ask Yourself the following Questions Before Buying anything online from a Vender or a Company that you don’t know. There are a lot of Scams and Scammers online.

1. How old is the Website? Has it just been established in the last few days? Do a WHO IS on the URL to find out. See who the owner of the site is. Many give a Phoney USA address, but are actually located in China even though the website might be in the USA.

2. Is there a Phone Number and Email Address on the site in plain view? Or a Link to Contact the seller, Or do you have to order the Item first?

3. Is the only Method of Payment through PayPal?

4. Is the Product warrantied by equipment manufacturer ( who is it??)
Is the Product shipped direct from mfgr’s warehouse ( Where is it???)
Does the Product have a 30 day return except if shipped by freight? (Most Heavy Items are shipped by freight) and if Overseas, most are shipped by (Freight)
If Returns must go back to manufacturer ( where is it??)

5. What is the Refund Policy?

6. is the Item way below the price of other merchants for the same thing? Remember if it is to good to be true, it probably isn’t.

7. Is the seller in China and no USA business? See Nr. 1 above.

8. If you send a Email asking questions, before or after buying, Do you get a Prompt Reply? Did the seller send you an Invoice and shipping information? Many Scammers will tell you to Act Now, or they say the Item won’t last or we only have a limited quantity. Folks, “Haste Makes Waste”

If you use PayPal, be sure that you understand their “buyer Protection Policy” especially if you are a new member or just joined. Use a credit card when ever possible. Most have a Buyer Protection Policy, and have a fraud or Item not received Policy to get your money back.

Folks there are a lot of scammers out there. I got scammed and I know better. I was looking for a small Portable Inverter Generator Online, when I ran across a advertisement for a Yamaha 2000 watt Inverter Generator for a unheard of price from a so called big time Generator Distributor in Issaquah, Washington. Nice website and looked really Legit. They promised quick delivery and had several name brands. I noticed that they stated in small print that they had 1061 Honda UE2000i Generators in stock. I thought Wow this outfit is really big. So on the Monday before Christmas, I ordered a Yamaha Inverter 2000 watt generator, the latest one at 23% lower than most other retailers. I was promised 4 to 7 day delivery. I payed with PayPal and received a email from them stating that they had received payment and that the generator would be shipped within 24 hours. No invoice, No tracking number, and no Phone number. I only had their Email saying they would ship in 24 hours and a PayPal email stating that payment had been made and that they had not received shipping info from the company. I sent several Emails to the email address given and received no answer. I was a little bit concerned, but figured they were pretty busy because of Christmas and all. I waited for 10 days when I sent a Email to them saying that I was contacting PayPal and where was the Generator that I ordered and was paid for.

That must have got them worried or else someone else had complained, because a couple of hours later, I went to their website only to find that it had been suspended. I immediately notified PayPal and I started doing some more checking. Here is what I found.

The address on the website in Issaquah Washington, was not a business but a house (mansion) that was For Sale. No such business existed in Issaquah. Next I did a “Who Is” on the URL and found that the website was registered to a individual in Bejing China whos name was different than the one that PayPal sent me. As soon as I found that out, I contacted my Credit Card company and gave them all of the information. My Credit card Company has Credited back my account while investigating which could take up to 30 days or more depending on complexity. This was a out and out scam and fraud. Pretending to be a US company, not delivering the merchandise, and false representation. I am glad that I paid with a credit card through PayPal.

Here are the lessons Learned.

1. If it sounds to good to be true it probably isn’t.

2. if something seems strange take your time and check it out.

3. call the business by looking up the phone number, not the one given on the website.

4. to make sure it is not a foreign Website or company not in the United States. Do a “Who Is”.

5. Be suspicious if you don’t get a invoice or an answer to your Email in a timely matter.

6. Don’t go by what the website says or the address that is given on the website without checking it out.

7. make sure that the phone number is legit and contact the BBB if they say on the website that they are a member. Call the BBB anyway.

8. Always Pay with a credit Card if possible.

9. if you have a problem and suspect fraud or a scam notify your credit card company or PayPal if that is who you went through, at once.

Several People have asked me why I went from a Class A Motor Home to a Travel Trailer, So as promised here are some of my reasons for doing so.

1. Deterioration and Depreciation

Yes you read that right. The worst thing for a Motor Home is to sit for several months on end and not being used, while Depreciating the whole time. My motor Home Sat in its parking place for over 2 years and was only started and run in place most of that time. It was only driven for safety and emissions inspections each year.

2. Cost

Not only the cost of Maintenance, Safety Inspections, Emissions test, Oil and Lube Jobs. There was the cost of Insurance and License Registrations. All of this is expensive for something that was not being used. I could no longer justify the cost of owning a Motor Home. I could see that the Motor Home was going to need some expensive repairs in the future. I will give cost examples at the end of this post.

3. Age

My Age and the Age of the Motor Home. I am 79 years old and can no longer do much of the things that are required to keep a motor home in tip top shape. The Motor Home at 12 years of age was beginning to show its age and was going to need some expensive repairs such as The Roof needed to be Sealed. Generator needs to be Serviced. The Dash AC has a Freon Leak. The House Batteries Need to be replaced. The Exterior needs to be cleaned and waxed and the Clear Coat is Peeling. Yes it is starting to show its Age.

4. Summary

I will not go into all of the old arguments and the Pro’s and Con’s of Travel Trailer Versus Class A Motor Home. I am only pointing out why I chose to do so. Several times during the Year I needed a Truck to haul things, and always had to depend on someone else or else rent one. With a travel trailer and a Truck to tow it the problem is solved. I now have a truck that I can use through out the year. I traded the jeep that I towed behind the Motor Home and got a truck.

After much thought, I have decided to delete most of the old content and start fresh with a new theme. Since I don’t have a Motor Home anymore, My focus will be Travel Trailers, 5th Wheels, Tow Vehicles, and RVing Adventures. I will be archiving most of the old content and will be deleting some of it.

Thanks to all of you and stay tuned for more while I transition the blog site..

After my last post about “Why You Need a Dash Cam” I decided to get one Like what my Son has, a ABASK Dash Cam, Abask 4″ IPS FHD 1080p 170 + 120 Degree Wide Angle Dual Lens Car DVR Camera With Loop Recording G-Sensor Parking Monitor 6-Glass Lens Motion Detection WDR Night Vision Time-off Screen, with front and rear camera. After using it in my Jeep for a couple of weeks, Here is my experience with it.

First the Pro’s

Large 4 inch screen. Much better than the 2.7 inch that my other dash cam has.

Excellent picture quality in daylight and at night.

Excellent on screen menu easy to see.

You can set time to turn of screen 30 sec, 1 min, 3 min.

Loaded with Many Features, to numerous to mention.

Excellent playback on TV or Computer.

Can mark a segment for viewing later and it won’t be over written.

Now for the Cons

As soon as I opened the package I dropped the camera about 3 inches on the top of my desk. The Screen bezel came loose allowing the camera to open up exposing the innards and let the screen to hang by its wires. Lucky Nothing broke. I spent 30 minutes getting it back together.

Kind of flimsy built.

The Manual that came with it, is crap. The print is so small you need a magnifying glass to read.

Many Mistakes in the manual Identifying the various parts of the camera. I copied and enlarged the manual and corrected the mistakes while putting it in PDF format.

It does not come with a Micro SD TF card, You have to buy one which adds another $15 or $20 to the $40 price I paid, making a total cost of $60 for a working unit.

Side Notes

All in All I am very pleased with the unit and for $60 it is cheap insurance. Time will tell how well it holds up. My Son has had his for 9 months and no problems. You can get a 3 year warranty from “Sguare Trade” for about $9. If your computer or TV, does not have a SD card reader, you can get a USB cable with a Mini end on it to plug into your computer or TV if it has a USB Slot. $12 at most electronic stores. This is not a comprehensive review, Many others have written a more comprehensive reviews about it. This mini review gives you an Idea about what to expect from the unit.

I sit for long hours at the computer both day and night. Lately I have noticed that My eyes tear a lot at night while sitting at the computer, and sometimes during the day too. I was having a hard time sleeping after sitting at the computer for several hours at night and sometimes I would have a headache. I happened to run across an article about something called Blue Light and Eye Strain. My Monitor is a Sanyo 26 inch HDTV and even though it has automatic Light adjustment for Day and Night viewing I found it was not enough to protect my eyes from Blue Light. Another symptom was having a hard time going to sleep on many nights and headaches, which I never had before.. In reading the Article, it stated that the blue light fools the body into thinking it is daylight when in fact it could be the middle of the night. It will often time strain the eyes as well as make it hard for you to go to sleep, especially if you have spent long hours at the computer.

What is the answer you may ask. I found a neat little Utility called “F.LUX” for Windows 10 and Linux. What it does is filter out the blue light according to the time of day or not. You set it up according to your Location and it will take care of the filtering according to the time of day or night. There are several other Utilities that do the same. There are other Physical filters that slip on the screen to do the same thing, But I like this handy little utility and it does the job for me. There is also one for Chrome Browser called Midnight lizard that you can add to your chrome browser. The “F.LUX” has been a blessing especially on my Laptop with the glaring white screen. I would suggest that you read up on Blue Light and eye strain. Save Your Eyes.